Early evening. A sick, elderly man staggers down a dark cluttered street in the middle of Ingolé. He coughs violently every few metres, heard by hundreds of people crammed in the houses - better yet, shacks - nearby. He ends his struggle at a door, half broken and starting to rot at the corners. His head drops, he let's out a long, drawn out sigh and turns around, almost crawling back the way he came.

Two notices were nailed awkwardly to the door.

One of them was a sign that said that said: "Alchemists. Come and get your potions and medicine here."

The other was a tatty piece of paper that had written on it: "ALL supplies gone. Out to scavenge for more. Hopefully be back soon."

Close to midnight, a figure can be seen in the street. He is carrying a satchel of some kind containing nothing but empty vials and some scraps of plants. He steps over a dead, elderly man in the street, proceeds around the corner and enters his residence, the Alchemists.

Another lengthy day of scavenging around the city, and the same figure returns to his shop. However, this time his satchel is packed full of 'supplies', or better described as junk. Different pieces of metal of different shapes and sizes, more scraps of plants, leaves, twigs and dirt, a variety of dead animals including mice, rats and insects, some live too. He spends an hour or two with in the shop with the door closed, and all that can be seen is mysterious fumes seeping out from the cracks in the doors and windows.

A panicked young woman bangs on the door and shouts desparetly: "I need some medicine for my son, he is sick and I fear he will die soon!"

The Alchemist opens the door, slightly, and replies with a sorrow tone: "I'm sorry, I don't have anything to give."

"But I've seen your store light on and the gases coming out, I know you have created something!" She catches a glimspe of a full elixir on the table, "There, I can see you have one, liar. Give it to me now!"

"I can't give y-" The Alchemist is interuptted as the frantic woman pushes past him and snatches it and runs off down the street. He shouts after her "Tell me what happens!" as he retreats back inside to continue his experiments.

The woman returns a few days later to the shop and delivers some unexpected but positive news.

"MY BOY IS CURED! Thankyou, I'm sorry for being so.. forward. Here, take this bread as thanks."

"Well... that's great, I guess. Thanks. So, do you mind if I have a look at your son, y'know to.. er.. see if he needs any additional medication?"

"Ofcourse, ofcourse, anything you need!" exclaimed the woman.

Upon inspection, the Alchemist could clearly see the boy had recovered almost 100% in just a few days. This was extraordinary. He hadn't used the common ingredients for the potion, he only had access to junk around the city. He noticed one or two other symptoms that he took a note of, and went back to his store to start producing his potions on mass. Later in the evening, he posted advertisements in the local community:

They read: "Back in supply. Health potions ready. Come to 'Thistle's Alchemy' and fight the disease of the city today. We can all pull through!"

Fernando Thistle had been around his local area collecting supplies but he had noticed that they were not being replenished as easily as he found them, so he decided to look further away from his home. After several trips like this he again found that supplies were getting thinner and thinner and that he would have to go evermore further out, he went to the edge of the city, the edge of the dome of mighty protection to explore. Bordering the outer most reaches of the dome were rows of abonded houses but he couldn't yet figure out why. He then saw several gloomy looking figures outside the dome, unable to enter. These must've been the dreaded glooms he had heard about! He cautiouslly edged into houses closest to the very edge of the dome and tried to take what he could. Suddenly, he felt a massive pain in his chest so agonising that he felt like he ceased to exist for a moment. Gathering his wits, Fern rushed back to his Alchemy shop to recover and study more on what had just happened, and how to over come it.It was ofcourse, the gloomifying presence of the Glooms that had ripped out a part of his soul. Fern was feeling sad and depressed over the next few days. In addition he could not find an answer of what to do. He had to find some sort of mixture that could survive soul damge...

There is a loud knock on the door. Before Fernando can react the knocking is repeated, this time even louder and more violent. A small orange figure appears at the window, casting a warm, flickering glow into the room as they press their face against the dirty glass.

Fern was working as he heard the knocks and saw the glow of the small fire-girl. He had a smile on his face, he was pleased to see her. He got up from his hectic looking work bench and opened the door for her.

"Hello, you are the girl from the university, yes? Did you come to help me? I didn't manage to catch your name, I'm Fernando Thislte - Nice to meet you."He hesitantly lends a hand to greet the girl with a handshake, half expecting her to ignore it and fully commit to a big, warm hug.

The girl grins, her mouth full of something that looks suspiciously like rotten wood from the door. She hastily swallows it, almost choking in the process, and starts gabbling excitedly.

"Hello, I'm Singe, and I've come to help you with your experiments, only my big brother and my big sister say that if you hurt me they will set you on fire, and then you will scream until you die. It is very nice to meet you."

Speech finished, she takes a huge breath and shakes Fernando's hand enthusiastically. As she holds her breath, her flames die down, flaring up again when she finishes the handshake and lets go.

"A pleasure, this is my little shop." He turns around to show it. Then he remembers it is mostly made of wood, and although has seen the girl put out her flames whilst holding her breathe thinks she doersnt want to do that for several hours. "The weather is quite nice out, shall we go sit out somewhere?" He goes to collect his alchemical kit, some food, and some sweets for the girl. "And don't worry," he smiles, "I have no intention in causing harm to you."

Singe peers into the shop as Fernando collects what he needs, obviously interested. Whenever he turns round from picking something up, he can see her exploring different items in the room, holding her breath in concentration. She nods when he mentions sitting outside and skips out the shop again.

"Can I look at what you've made later?"

At the sight of the sweets, she starts to jump from one foot to the other, beaming.

"Here's a sweetie, sweetie," he says as he passes her one of his several sweets. "And well... I was hoping you could maybe try of some of what I've made and tell me how they make you feel, if that's alright? It's up to you, I don't know exactly what it will do so it's fine if you don't want..."

Singe puts the entire sweet including the wrapper into her mouth, chewing it thoughtfully. As she considers Fernando's words, her hands and body starts to twist and flicker, almost as if to some silent rhythm.

"How risky is it?"Without waiting for a reply, she adds, "That means you have to say what the best thing that can happen is, and what the worst thing that can happen is, and then how likely they are to happen, and then we can work it out."

"Well honestly, I'm not quite sure. It could do anything from making you more powerful to making you susceptible to fire, which I can see as not going too well. Perhaps tell me a bit about you first, do you cast any magic? Are you harmer by any magic? What do you not like the most? Something that might tell me what will be less harmful to you and how to keep you safe."

For a moment there is silence while Singe's eyes grow wide and her flickering becomes stronger. When she speaks there is a hint of fear in her voice, combined with awe and excitement.

"That's a HUUUGE risk."

Pushing past Fernando ((Ignite (take no damage) unless he moves out of the way)) and back into his shop, she starts to create a space in the middle of his floor, shoving any chairs or large objects to the side.

Fern was looking down as she was speaking, and replied "Yes it is a-" before being interupted by her pushing past him. He lept out the way as to not get burnt and tries to calm Singe down "Please, Singe, calm down and please don't destroy anything. I'll tell you whatever you want if you do not disrupt my work. Please."